WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/266 
7 June 2006 
 
 (06-2710) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   Spanish 
  
 
FOURTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW OF THE OPERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF 
THE AGREEMENT ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
Communication from Costa Rica
 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Effective application of the Agreement on Tec hnical Barriers to Trade ("TBT Agreement") in 
developing country Members has met with difficulties of various kinds.  These difficulties warrant attention and are best examined through the ev aluations of how the TBT Agreement is being 
implemented, so that any factors that may hinder trade can be identified. 
2. In view of the importance of the Fourth Triennial Review of the operation and 
implementation of the TBT Agreement, effective implementation of the Agreement needs to be 
discussed in greater depth, given the importance of technical regulation and conformity assessment, which have repercussions on inter-country trade aff ecting developing countries the most.  Triennial 
reviews accordingly need to reflect the concerns a nd problems that Members encounter in the course 
of trade. 
3. As part of this process of reviewing the TBT Agreement, it is also necessary to generate 
appropriate improvements allowing fulfilment of the objectives for which the Agreement was created 
and which can be resumed as follows: 
• To avoid creating unnecessary barriers to international trade; 
 
• to allow countries independence in the way they regulate to protect their legitimate 
interests; 
 
• to promote use of international standards. 
 
II. PROPOSALS 
A. 
POSSIBILITY FOR THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TBT COMMITTEE TO HOLD AD HOC CONSULTATIONS  
4. Article 13.1 of the TBT Agreement says:  "The  Committee shall elect its own Chairman and 
shall meet as necessary, but no less than once a year, for the purpose of affording Members the 
opportunity of consulting on any matte rs relating to the operation of th is Agreement or the furtherance 
of its objectives, and shall carry out such responsib ilities as assigned to it under this Agreement or by 
the Members."  The possibility of Members' assigning duties to the Committee is particularly relevant 
if one thinks in terms of the Chairman of the TBT Committee using ad hoc consultations or "good 
offices" to resolve implementation difficulties in the Committee itself, affording Members a 
reasonable means of settling disputes without having to resort to lengthy and costly proceedings. G/TBT/W/266 
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  5. The Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary  Measures affords a good example in this 
context:  Article 12.2 of the SPS Agreement allo ws the Chairman of the SPS Committee to hold 
ad hoc consultations on sanitary and phytosanitary i ssues raised by countries.  Thanks to this Article, 
Members have been able more easily to solve problems encountered in applying sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures without having to spend time and money on taking the problems to other 
bodies. 
6. In view of the way trade is conducted today, it is most important that Members, particularly 
developing country Members, should be able to so lve expeditiously the problems they meet in the 
course of trade.  Trading partners therefore need instruments that allow them through an appropriate 
procedure to obtain answers to the trade concerns they raise in the Committee. 
7. In TBT Committee meetings, a good deal of time is taken up by the agenda item on Members' 
trade concerns because there are now so many regulat ions and their number has risen in recent years.  
When there are too many regulations, small and medium-sized enterprises are affected and the countries concerned have only limited resources to cope  with the new requirements.  What is more, 
the new regulations do not always faithfully pursue the objectives sought by the TBT Agreement.  On 
the contrary, they may create unnecessary barriers th at are detrimental to inter-country trade, which 
makes it the more essential for the TBT Committee to  have an efficient procedure able to deliver 
prompt responses to the needs of Members coping with regulations that hinder trade. 
8. Costa Rica therefore believes that there should be an expeditious procedure able to secure 
more of a response from countries that have establishe d regulations that affect trade.  We therefore 
submit for Members' consideration an improvement to the procedure for examining trade problems, 
whereby the Chairman of the TBT Committee w ould have the possibility of holding ad hoc 
consultations for the purpose of solving trade pr oblems that countries raise in connection with the 
TBT Agreement.  This would speed up and facilita te the resolution of problems that arise in 
connection with the issuing and im plementation of trade regulations.  Such a mechanism would afford 
all Members an opportunity to settle disputes a nd facilitate trade without having to resort at 
considerable cost to the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body. 
B. 
GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICE .  NEED FOR A COST -BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF REGULATIONS  
9. Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement expressly requi res Members to ensure that their technical 
regulations do not have the eff ect of creating obstacles to trade and are accordingly not more trade-
restrictive than is necessary to fulfil the legitima te objective for which the regulation was created.  
Obviously, there are different ways of achieving an ob jective;  some are more restrictive than others 
and the repercussions they have on access to various markets differ. 
10. Evaluating countries' regulations means exam ining possible alternatives as well, which 
involves consideration of the associated costs and the consequences both for the country issuing the 
regulations and for the countries that have to comply  with the new requirements, bearing in mind that 
any regulation that fails to strike a balance betw een the objectives to be attained and the trade 
consequences may affect market access. 
11. It needs to be borne in mind as well that any regulatory requirement will have two types of 
associated costs:  the cost of complying with th e new requirement and the cost of demonstrating 
compliance.  Often, the latter cost exceeds the former and may make access to one or another market impossible 
12. In Costa Rica's view, therefore, it is important to bear in mind the need for Members to assess 
the possible trade consequences of issuing a new re gulation, particularly on the small economies with 
which they trade.  G/TBT/W/266 
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  C. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES , ACCREDITATION AND MUTUAL RECOGNITION 
AGREEMENTS  
13. In preparations for the Fourth Triennial Review, attention was drawn to the problems 
associated with conformity assessment procedures, which continue to impose a considerable burden 
on exporters and importers in Member countries b ecause of the variety of assessment procedures that 
exist for similar products. 
14. Some practices in conformity assessment amount to  technical barriers to trade.  This is 
compounded by the ongoing proliferation of different requirements in the various countries, or even in 
one and the same country, which adds to the diffi culties of gaining access to international trade.  
There is therefore a need to introduce simplified co nformity assessment systems that facilitate trade 
between countries. 
15. On the matter of conformity assessment procedures, Article 5.1.2 of the TBT Agreement says 
that such procedures must not be prepared, adopted or  applied with a view to or with the effect of 
creating unnecessary barriers to trade which means that they must be applied no more strictly than is 
necessary.  The TBT Agreement accordingly pr ovides for accreditation and mutual recognition 
agreements as instruments for facilitating the app lication of conformity assessment procedures and 
obtaining real access to markets. 
16. Costa Rica therefore points out the importance of using accreditation based on international 
standards and establishing mutual recognition ag reements between the accreditation bodies of 
Member countries, as a means of facilitating impl ementation of conformity assessment procedures 
and so ensuring fulfilment of the obj ectives set by the TBT Agreement. 
D. SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT .  EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION . 
17. According to Article 12.3 of the TBT Agreem ent, in preparing and applying technical 
regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, Members must take account of the 
special development and trade needs of developing country Members.  The aim is to ensure that 
technical regulations do not create unnecessary obstacles to the exports of developing country 
Members. 
18. In addition, it must be borne in mind that ma ny exporters – particularly small and medium-
sized enterprises – are particularly vulnerable to regulatory change in the various markets in which 
they trade.  Often, regulatory change, alt hough introduced for sound reasons, can include 
requirements that involve a change of technology  and long, costly and complicated conformity 
assessment procedures which, while not a technical barrier, in many cases inhibit participation by 
such enterprises in one or another market. 
19. In addressing this matter, some Members have in  previous meetings referred to the need for 
information to be provided on how Members have taken account of special and differential treatment 
in preparing technical regulations and conformity  assessment procedures.  The same point has been 
made in the TBT Committee's discussion of special and differential treatment, and in addressing 
specific trade concerns raised by Members.1 
                                                      
1 On special and differential treat ment in the context of discussions on specific trade concerns, see 
documents G/TBT/M/33, paragraphs 47 and 55, and G/TBT/M/34, paragraphs 40 and 50. G/TBT/W/266 
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  20. Costa Rica supports such an initiative as a me ans of bringing real transparency to the 
implementation of special and differential treatment, with a view to ensuring that the TBT Agreement 
provisions on S&DT are applied effectively by  the developed country Members and that the 
developing country Members are benefiting from them.  
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